Hesperia Teen Might Lose Hand After Fish Tank Cut Gets Infected

HESPERIA (CBS) — A Hesperia teen has been fighting a rare bacterial infection for five years.

Doctors believe it is time to make a drastic decision to fight the infection (a rare one found in fish tanks called Mycobacterium marinum) that causes immense pain in her right hand: Cut it off.

It all started when Hannele Cox, now 13, stuck her hand in the family's fish tank and accidentally cut herself in the summer of 2006.

Her hand swelled almost immediately and since that time, KCAL9's Greg Mills reports, the active sports lover Cox, has been back and forth to doctors who are unable to kill the infection that has now spread into the tissue and bone of her right hand and wrist.

Cox, an avid gymnast, dreamt of getting to the Olympics. But she is no longer able to compete.

"I've been on tons and tons of medications," she told Mills, "and it hasn't even worked. And two surgeries. And those haven't worked either."

She told Mills she is resigned to the prospect of losing her hand. "I just want to be done with the pain," she says, matter-of-fact. "I've been in pain for five years."

Cox is also selling her pet horse, Pebbles. Riding is too difficult, and painful, and the family needs the money to pay for the costly amputation surgery.

She tells Mills with a smile, "I'm trying to stay positive through all this."